New Electronics Reviews

Sleek, slim and sophisticated design, crystal clear images, immense sound power and multimedia facilities; these are characteristics of today’s high definition televisions. These televisions are capable of processing digital signals and creating a ‘theatre-quality’ visual and acoustic experience. They however, will not be able to improve the quality of conventional analogue signals. So those channels may still look the same. There are quite a few manufacturers who compete in this niche segment of the television market like Vizio, Philips, and Sony. The products are priced higher than their conventional counterparts, naturally due to the host of features provided to the consumer.

Latest additon to Sony’s BRAVIA product line is the Sony KDL-40V2500. It is packed with all characteristics of the HDTV. It has a very sleek design and can be mounted on the wall or on a detachable swivel base. This pedestal allows for 30-degree swivel to the right and left, a forward tilt of 3 degrees and backward tilt of 8 degrees, enabling the product to be conveniently positioned. The speakers are located at the bottom of the TV, making the design highly compact.

This 40-inch TV has high-resolution LCD display, with Full HD supporting 1920 X 1080 pixel display, and 1080p content. It has a response time of 8 ms, with the screen content being refreshed once in 8 milli seconds; rendering blur-free high-action images in a life-like manner. Digital comb filters, wider screen aspect ratio and high contrast ratio gives the viewer a crisper wide screen images. In built stereo speakers with 20-watt output capacity, along with the Digital Dolby decoder, and TruSurround XT provide an amazing surround sound experience. This model can also be intergrated with other home theatre devices or even your personal computer through a HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) to provide a true multi media experience.

Apart from the technicalities, Sony KDL-40V2500 offers easy menu access using WEGA GATE feature. The widescreen aspect ratio enables the viewer to watch a normal picture in wide screen mode. Parental Control feature allows parents to rate channels and allow access to channels based on their rating. Additionally, the viewer has a facility to freeze an image in a second window for reference purpose, while the program can be viewed in the primary window.

As for the downside, 1080p ouput can be achieved only by using the HDMI and not from other components like gaming devices and DVD players. For those of you, used to the picture-in-picture mode, the feature is missing in this model. Inspite of the 8 ms response time cited, occasionally there is a blur on fast-moving images.

Also, there seems to be a problem with overscanning of television channels, you may not be able to watch your main program and a ticker from another channel at the same time. This may also be due to an incorrect setting.

This product, with its accessories (tabletop stand, coaxial cable, HD15-to-HD15 cable, remote control (with batteries), operating manual) comes with 1-year warranty on parts and labour and in-house service warranty. On the whole this model of BRAVIA, is worth the investment, offering a truly high-end television experience. Latest addition to BRAVIA series, "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture" lives up to its name.

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Labels: lcd, sony, TVs